I have a question about the exercise sequence, that's present in workout templates. And that is, why aren't the exercises for back or chest executed one after another (chest, upper chest, back, lats) but are rather interrupted by the exercise the involves some other muscle (chest, back, upper chest, lats)? Is it sequenced that way so you can progress to other exercise without rest or even exercise the other muscle group (for example back) in between sets for the first muscle group (for example chest)? Thank you =)

I'm Talking about this template: /Workouts/Workout2UL.html (2 day split upper/lower body workout). I'm asking why the sequence suggested here is chest, back, chest (upper), lats or quadriceps, hamstrings, quadriceps, hamstrings and not chest, chest (upper), back, lats or qudriceps, qudriceps, hamstrings, hamstrings. Wouldn't it make more sense to work the same muscle group consequtively? I'm just interested in the reason since my knowledge is limited in this area.

It depends on your goals. The suggested sequence allows recovery between similar exercises so you are better able to perform the exercise. This helps build strength and fitness. From a body building point of view, you may want to achieve and sustain deep muscular fatique during successive sets. This may have hypertrophy benefits but would be sub-optimal if your goal is strength or fitness improvements.

_________________Stu Ward_________________Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~HippocratesStrength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley_________________Thanks TimD

The time successive sets are must is when your are increasing intensity by decreasing rest times. Decreased rest is one method of progressive overload. So whenever rest time is not part of your progressive overload strategy, you don't have to have successive sets.

One strategy is to pyramid down with reps and/or weight. Say you do a high volume program with maybe 5 sets of an exercise, after warmup you pick a weight where you can get 10 or 12 reps, then each set you rest 60 seconds (or whatever time you set based on progression), and do as many reps as you can. That number goes down each set. Alternatively, you can pick heavy weight to begin, and continue to reduce the weight each set as you maintain the number of reps. You can also lower the weight in small increments, so the reps also decrease in small increments.

Another way you can use successive sets is just to change up a hypertrophy program. It keeps your muscles fatigued and pumped, which is another stress for them to adapt to. You don't do it that way all the time though. Much of the time you want to maximize the progressive overload via adding weight and/or reps. That requires longer rest periods, and you can save time, thereby getting in more volume by working a different set of muscles while the first is recovering.

So as you can see, in most situations it's not going to matter which way you do it. It usually just comes down to what works better with the split you're doing, and personal preference. Like everything though, don't do it the same way all the time.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum